Reading, Writing, and Me

I'm Not Missing  by Carie Fountain (July 10) Overview: Syd always kept Miranda afloat. She was the loud voice to triumph over all of Miranda's insecurity. She was her guide to the world and the ultimate decision maker for every facet of Miranda's life. She was going to Stanford and getting out of her trailer park. And then she's gone. Missing with no trace except for a note to make it clear she doesn't want to be found, Miranda tries to figure out what happened all while falling into a new life complete with her long time crush as her new boyfriend now that Syd is out of the way. Will Miranda find Syd? Should she even bother looking now that she knows what Syd's done? Overall: 5  Characters: 5 The secret sauce to good characters is authenticity. Fountain nails that. Every character in the story is so genuine to themselves and to each other. Miranda makes for an interesting lead as she's always been Syd's side kick. She has to learn how to lead her o

June has been one of my most successful reading months this year both in the number of books I've completed and the number of books that were absolute stand outs. This month, I also had the privilege of meeting a trio of fantastic authors and launching a new site called Fireworks In The Night (Check it out here ) to host some awesome original work. Today, I want to recap some of my favorite books and posts and give you a quick look ahead into the super exciting coming months! New York City Last month, I had the chance to visit the city to check out colleges. Of course, New York is also one of the world's great literary and food hubs, so there were lots of things to see and try. Here are some of the posts  inspired by my trip! Books In NYC:  List Here Be Empathy: David Arnold, Becky Albertalli, and Adam Silvera in Conversation:  Article Here Eating Gluten Free in NYC:  Article Here Best New Books of The Month The Way You Make Me Feel:  Review Her

Allegedly  by Tiffany D. Jackson (387 pages) Overview: Mary may or may not have killed baby Alyssa. But she got convicted of the crime anyway. After spending years nine through fourteen of her life in baby jail, Mary is transferred to a group home that proves far more dangerous than her sentence. To add to her problems, sixteen year old Mary discovers she's become pregnant by her boyfriend she met volunteering. Mary must now figure out how to clear her name so that she can keep her baby. After all, it was only ever allegedly.   Overall: 4 Characters: 4 Having an unreliable narrator definitely livens up the story. The reader's trust for Mary will eb and flow as the story progresses, though, ultimately, her stability is even more questionable than her trustworthiness. Sometimes Mary is level headed, sometimes erratic. The reader has a vague idea of certain pills she and her mother may be taking, but Mary never gives much of that away. Even though we are in Mary's head,